NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 25TH- India and China are at high on the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who is wrapping up today his mission at the United Nations. Meetings with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of India, and the Chinese colleague, Wang Yi, aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.
Wang and Di Maio reaffirmed the excellent state of the relation between Italy and China, which in 2020 will celebrate its 50th anniversary by organising the Italian-Chinese Year of Culture and Tourism with a rich agenda of cultural initiatives in numerous sectors to be held in Italy and China.
The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to tighten bilateral economic cooperation by fostering the development of joint efforts in China and in third markets and by promoting the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers with a view to simplifying the access of Italian products – especially of the agri-food sector – on the Chinese market in order to redress the trade balance. To this end, Minister Di Maio announced his intention to attend the next edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai in November, in which Italy is a “Partner Country” and will be present with approximately 150 Italian companies.
Minister Di Maio and Minister Jaishankar expressed their satisfaction for the outstanding levels of trade achieved between the two Countries, which is expected to grow even further in the future. Both Ministers agreed to continue working in order to identify new areas for economic cooperation, such as Defence and Aerospace. The Indian Minister also expressed a strong interest in the Italian agri-food industry with special reference to food processing technologies and in exploring new cooperation avenues to develop joint projects to be implemented in Third Countries with a special focus on Africa.
Both Asian countries are important targets for “Made in Italy”, which is now an integral part of Di Maio’s portfolio. With China a platform has already been activated after the signing of the Silk Road accord. “Each time that an Italian company of average dimensionreceives an order from China we are speaking about thousands and thousands of items to export each month. Sometimes our companies have to join forces in order to satisfy the demands of the Chinese market,” said Di Maio at a press point at the UN. India, on the other hand, after the visit from Prime Minister Conte, “is a platform that still needs to be built”. Both countries “middle class grows at the rhythm of millions of people each year. They want to eat well and buy product that are made well, that is our Made in Italy”.
During the meeting with Wang the reform of the UN Security Council was on the agenda. Italy and China are on the same side inside the “Uniting for Consensus” (UfC) Group, which Italy chairs and in which China participates as an observer. In agreeing on working for a more democratic, responsible, transparent and effective Security Council, the two ministers committed to strengthen synergies also on this dossier. (SB@OnuItalia)
